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True Covenant
The attack of the Governors of Contrition was swift, and came totally by surprise. During his tenure as Hierarch, the Prophet of Objection had done much to restore what was left of the Covenant to its former glory - the elevation of the Yanme'e into the warrior caste, the removal of Grunts from frontline combat roles, inproving conditions for Huragok workers, and the reformation of the High Council to include Yanme'e Queens, Jiralhanae Chieftains, a few Kig-Yar leaders, as well as the few Prophets that remained, all helping to maintain the New Covenant's unity. Unfortunately, several actions taken by Objection would spell the doom of his regime - the decision to offer amnesty to recalcitrant Sangheili being the most important. The Governors used their opportunity well, infiltrating the highest orders of the New Covenant at Hallowed Sanctum, before striking with overwhelming force and pinpoint accuracy - killing many Queens and Chieftains in the opening hours, capturing many of the surviving Prophets, and executing Objection and setting up the Prophet of Piety as a puppet Hierarch. Using a Sangheili Armed Forces diplomatic taskforce as a scapegoat, the Governors took immediate and nearly total control of the New Covenant, using its fleets and legions to set their own plans into motion. Their control was not total, however. Absent from Hallowed Sanctum, Objection's fellow Hierarchs, the Prophets of Protestation and Devotion, would form a core of loyal legions and fleets, using Victorious Avowal as their central command, initiating a civil war within the New Covenant for control, establishing a Covenant-in-exile. Piety was forced to declare Protestation and Devotion to be traitors to the Great Journey, labelling them as blasphemers and heretics, the Governors commanding their warriors to attack Victorious Avowal, the bastion of their remaining power, hoping to crush the resistance. Though Protestation would be killed during the battle, Devotion would escape unharmed, forging an alliance between his forces, now taking the name "True Covenant", and the Sangheili Armed Forces to depose Piety and defeat the Governors before they could accomplish their goals. Fighting alongside human, Sangheili and even Unggoy forces, the True Covenant would win many battles, eventually retaking Victorious Avowal and Hallowed Sanctum alongside other allied forces, and would spend much of the subsequend years rebuilding the most devastating blow to its authority since the Schism. History Rise of the Governors The New Covenant did much to stem the outflow of its manpower and materiel, improving conditions for its own members and reforming and restructuring itself to take its new status into account. With less than a thousand Prophets, each surviving Prophet was given a personal bodyguard of Jiralhanae, all handpicked by a select committee for honour and loyalty to their masters - while the new Honour Guards could certainly be brutal, they were carefully selected to weed out the savagery that has typified their race. Other changes were made - realising that conscripts made poor foot soldiers, Unggoy were withdawn from compulsory military service. Volunteers would continue to serve, in conventional, special operations and kamikaze units, but in much reduced numbers. With the loss of Balaho, methane-rich terrestrial planets were commissioned for Unggoy breeding, bolstering the number of Unggoy under New Covenant service, both for military and civilian applications - with a new generation of Unggoy workers, creating new colonies, operating the machinery that churned out new war machines, and tending to crops and livestock, the New Covenant would prosper economically even while fighting a bitter war against the Blood Covenant. Objection began a complete overhaul of the military, reformating the chain of command, advancing leaders he deemed trustworthy, and modernising its arsenal in preparations for an expected war with the Sangheili. Even the government did not escape untouched - Yanme'e Queens were added as full Councillors, joining Prophets and Jiralhanae Chieftains to participate in debate and discussion. With a more open process, steadily stabilising infrastructure, and an unprecedented increase in popularity of the new Hierarchs, Objection, Protestation and Devotion, the rise of the New Covenant seemed all but certain. Other decisions made by Objection would have the opposite effect. In 2557, he offered absolution to those Sangheili who renounced the heretical secession of their species, inviting them to return to the Covenant. This would make him unpopular among the Jiralhanae, who regarded such a move as a backwards step, and even an attempt to return their species to subservience. Certainly, the favour which he gave to Sangheili members of his Honour Guard earned him a reputation among Jiralhanae circles, but he seemed to have no intent of any such thing. A small number of Sangheili, mostly religious ascetics and those unhappy with the Arbiter's regime, would return to the fold of the New Covenant, becoming Honour Guardsmen or high-ranking leaders within the military. The vast majority of Sangheili who accepted Objection's offer, however, would be members of the Governors of Contrition, a religious extremist sect dedicated to attaining the Great Journey. Its leaders had no tenets that insisted on obedience to the Prophets, but given the mass rejection of religion by the Arbiter's faction, they would decide that the New Covenant was a better prospect. Many of the Governors had seen action during the War of Vengeance against the Blood Covenant, and were seasoned warriors and commanders - it is therefore not surprising that so many would become personal guards and leaders of the New Covenant's fleets and legions. Objection hoped that the honourable nature of the Sangheili would add a sense of stability to offset the aggressive but unstable methods of their Jiralhanae counterparts. In fact, cooperation between the two species seems to have been almost amiable - the decision of the Governors to recruit Jiralhanae members helped this process, and bolstered their own numbers, adding even more members of the New Covenant military to their ranks. When they made their move, it was with speed, surprise, and skill - Honour Guards slaughtered their own men, taking their "masters" hostage; fleets bombarded their own headquarters; legions turned upon the colonies they were garrisoned to protect. On Hallowed Sanctum, Governor control was complete within a matter of hours - its infiltration was efficient, and total. Objection was deemed to unreliable to use a puppet governor - blaming a Sangheili Armed Forces diplomatic fleet for his murder, the Governors claimed that the emergency action was in response to their unprovoked destruction of the Prophet's home, and much of the High Council - in fact, Governor warriors, including the Raak'ezh Warrior Creche, had slaughtered most of the Council themselves, taking the surviving members, Prophets and Queens, hostage. Most of the Jiralhanae members were taken by surprise, and even struck down by their subordinates as they took their predecessors' place. Objection himself was deemed a liability - he was executed personally by Jothu 'Fezhazhee, a member of the Governors and commander of the Raak'ezh - and in his place, the Prophet of Piety was set up as a puppet leader, the new Hierarch of the New Covenant. Insurgency The surprise the Governors had did not mitigate some unexpected disasters. Part of the New Covenant Fleet had been sent to Victorious Avowal to escort the Hierarchs of Protestation and Devotion - realising the Governor takeover, the two would set up a government-in-exile, the so-called True Covenant, rallying Jiralhanae fleet and legion commanders who remained loyal, making Victorious Avowal a bastion of Prophet power. Though with a reduced fleet, less warriors, and only a single major world under their control, they would fight back immediately - retaking a number of small but important resource worlds, bolstering their numbers by turning much of the Victorious Avowal into shipyards and armouries, and returning to the policy of Unggoy conscription. In addition to this, the defences of Victorious Avowal were formidable, rivalling those of High Charity itself - a network of DEW satellites and shield emitters, making the planet nearly impregnable. Several early, uncoordinated attempts to attack were unsuccessful, leading to the deaths of foolhardy Chieftains. Surrounded by their crack legions, and their surviving fleets, the two Hierarchs hoped to gain ground steadily, and indeed their chances seemed good - but the traits that the Governors had used to assume control, patience and unyeilding force, would again come into play. Fall of Victorious Avowal Like Troy of ancient human history, the seeds of destruction for Victorious Avowal would be drawn within by its own defencers. Arriving in a battered frigate bearing plasma scorch marks, a single frigate entered the system - seemingly abandoned, travelling on autopilot, a boarding party was dispatched to assume control. Capturing the ship with no opposition, the victorious forces would send it to the Renewed Purpose Shipyards for repair and recommission. Unknown to the captors, a hidden force was stored within the ship, protected by thick layers of sensor-resistant armour plating. Upon landing this protective layer retracted, allowing its hidden force - the Raa'ezh Warrior Creche and several packs of Jiralhanae shock troops - to recapture several dropships, staging an assault on the satellite defence network control nodes in three teams, each a mixture of Sangheili and Jiralhanae, all loyal to the Governors of Contrition. Working quickly, the capture of the nodes was quick, and by the time the orbiting fleet could respond, sending recon pickets to attack the boarders, the Governor's New Covenant fleets had emerged from slipspace - no longer protected by the defence satellites, the fleet staged a desperate last stand as it evacuated the planet of its leadership, including Chieftains and Prophets - the Hierarchs themselves would be attacked by the Raak'ezh, with Protestation captured. Devotion himself would narrowly avoid capture, his Honour Guards slaughtered by the Raak'ezh, but would be evacuated by the personal efforts of High Chieftain Erebus, the last of the free Hierarchs. Abandoning the planet, Devotion's forces activated charges - many of the shipyards and manufacturing facilities would be destroyed to prevent their capture, the satellites that had been meant to form an impenetrable defence now finding a new purpose - aimed at the surface, and crashed into enemy formations and ships, a last-ditch weapon. Unable to recapture the planet, Devotion's forces fled to slipspace. While much of the planet was now useless, it was nevertheless a much-needed propaganda coup for the Governors, who lauded their ability to "crush heretical upstarts" to the outer corners of the New Covenant. Piety himself would declare Protestation a heretic, and order his execution - broadcast live throughout New Covenant space, as an example to those who had thought of rising up against their new masters. Unlikely Alliance Although they still retained a small number of colonies, and much of the fleet had been away protecting these from privateer raids and minor attacks, the True Covenant had been dealt a crushing blow with the fall of their capital, and it became readily apparent to all that they would need allies if they were to survive. A number of Yanme'e hives had also broken away, wresting with them a sizeable territory, several ships, and a few colonies, terms for an alliance could not be reached - the Yanme'e negotiated for protection, and when they learned that the True Covenant was in a situation as desperate as their own, they ended the process to stop themselves being drawn into the conflict before they were ready. At the same time, the Sangheili's extermination campaign against the Kig-Yar privateer groups left few chances for mercenary contracts, and the few Jiralhanae who remained independent were so because they had no love of the Prophets. The True Covenant were, therefore, forced to turn to the only viable factions for an alliance - the Sangheili Armed Forces and the UNSC, the very people whom Objection had intended to war against. A desperate plan was hatched, one which would rely on preparation. The few remaining spies available to the True Covenant within the Governors reported massive fleet buildups, with the intent of locating and activating Forerunner artefacts in the Procyon and Mu Arae star systems, to be sent soon - following with a sizeable taskforce, High Chieftain Erebus arrived at Mu Arae in time to find the Governors' fleet engaging UNSC and SAF forces, moving in to engage their shared enemy. Managing to forge a temporary alliance with the two factions, the combined fleets followed the New Covenant ships as they followed a Forerunner superluminal beacon to an unknown region of space, arriving at an ancient planet known in scriptures as "the Nexus." Together, the True Covenant, SAF and UNSC fleets would engage New Covenant surface forces, following them again through a superluminal conduit to another galaxy, encountering an mysterious and highly advanced civilisation bearing an astonishing resemblance to the Forerunners. Finding the New Covenant fleet destroyed, the combined fleet returned through the portal to negotiate a more concrete alliance against the Governors of Contrition. Retaking Lost Ground Restoration Leaders Prophet of Protestation Prophet of Devotion High Chieftain Erebus Loyal Forces Colonies Fleets Remarks Gallery Category:Covenant remnants